Plastic
by ahiijny
Summary: Misato decides to chase down a plastic bag in order to let off some steam.
1. Plastic

**日常 ****- nichijou, Arawi Keiichi**

* * *

3:25 pm.

Misato's face is glowing bright red. She's rapidly walking through the hallway with her eyes snapped shut.

"That Sasahara!" Misato shouts, waving her hand as bursts of steam shoot out of her ears. "What was he thinking!? That idiot! Hmph!"

Suddenly, someone bumps into her. Maybe walking through the hallways with her eyes closed isn't the best idea.

"Oh, sorry," Misato apologizes distractedly.

"No worries," the blindfolded student says, smiling.

Misato shakes her head and continues walking, staring at the ground. "That Sasahara!... That guy!... What's with him?..."

She steps into the schoolyard. She looks up.

"He's like that plastic bag," she mutters, glaring at the object being blown around in the distance. "Doing what he wants without a care in the world. Hmph."

Misato stops for a moment, gazing into the air.

* * *

**可塑**

**"Plastic"**

* * *

She exhales and clenches her teeth.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she shouts, sprinting towards the green bag. She quickly pulls herself over the fence and hits the ground on all fours.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?" she demands, jabbing an accusatory finger at the plastic bag.

The bag just floats there.

"You're a plastic bag. You belong in the garbage, not in the air."

The bag just floats there.

"Get down here, or I'll make you."

The bag just floats there.

"Feisty one." Misato's eyes narrow. "You asked for it."

She reaches behind her and slowly draws her kendo sword without taking her eye off of the bag.

"_Men_!" Misato jumps and slashes. The sword misses by less than a centimeter, and the resulting air movement blows the bag even higher.

Misato sighs. "You think you're pretty clever, don't you?"

A gust of wind blows the bag away.

"You're not getting away!"

Misato grabs her sword and places it back in its holder as she takes off after the bag.

The wind is strong today. The bag is getting further and further away. Even worse, it's in the air, so it doesn't need to worry about obstacles like houses or buildings.

"So that's your plan?" Misato takes a quick look around. _Residential area…_ "Not gonna work!"

She does a sharp left turn into the driveway of some house. She leaps right over the fence and into the backyard. Avoiding the garden hose and the toys lying on the ground, Misato runs right up to yet another fence. After crossing the backyard beyond that fence, she comes to another road. She cuts across the road and continues running through even more driveways and backyards.

The bag flies through the air, twirling and tumbling. Misato soon finds herself running into a busy urban area.

She stares at the bag in the distance. The wind is more erratic in this area due to the taller buildings.

Misato runs across the street and directly into the first floor of a multi-storey department store. Ignoring all of the surprised customers, Misato weaves through the aisles and displays, quickly closing in on the escalators. She reaches the roof on the fourth floor in less than twenty seconds. She slams the door open and surveys the scene. Ah, the plastic bag is over there, hovering near that roof several buildings over.

"Just give up already!" Misato shouts, sprinting towards the bag, unhindered by the meter-wide gaps between the rooftops.

The wind shifts, and the bag begins drifting away from the roof. Still several meters away, Misato leaps towards it, and her fingers get within 10 centimeters of the bag before she begins falling.

Misato braces herself, smacks the top of a tall dumpster, rolls off, and lands on the pavement without injury. She looks up.

The bag has begun descending due to a break in the wind.

"Heh, heh," Misato grins. "You've got nowhere to run. You've managed to get yourself cornered behind a building, eh? How careless."

Huge imposing brick walls loom over them on all four sides.

"Ironic, too," Misato says, gesturing towards the dumpsters lying around. "You're going to get captured in the very same place that you're trying to escape from."

The bag swirls around lazily, several meters above the ground.

"Now then, are you going to turn yourself in peacefully, or are you going to make my job even harder?" Misato draws her kendo sword. The bag is now low enough for her to reach.

"Anyway," she grins. "It's all over for you."

Misato takes a step forward, lifting up her kendo sword. "Now, to end—"

She gasps, beads of sweat appearing on her face. There's something behind her.

She gulps. Slowly, she turns around.

Her eyes widen. "What's this…"

The wind has picked up again, and floating behind her are three plastic bags of different colours— one red, one yellow, and one blue. "Reinforcements!?"

A blast of wind comes, and the four bags scatter in different directions, quickly disappearing into nearby alleyways

"Was this your plan all along?" Misato's expression darkens.

The four bags get further away.

"Che." Misato closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Time to stop holding back."

Her eyes snap open and she shoots off after the bag to her left. She chases it over the fence and through an alleyway.

Her grip on her kendo sword tightens. Her eye glints.

"_Wind slash!_"

A shockwave of air blasts forward, hits the red bag, and slams it into the brick wall on the other side of the street.

Misato runs across the street, peels the bag off of the wall, and jams it into her pocket.

"Not bad for a move that I made up just now," Misato mutters. "Next."

She sprints down the sidewalk for a while before turning and crossing the street again. She runs into the alleyway. She makes a right turn, a left turn, then another right turn before spotting the blue bag.

"Over here!" Misato shouts. She grips her kendo sword.

"_Wind slash!_"

The air blast slams the bag into a door at the end of the alleyway.

Misato scrapes off the blue bag. "What a tricky guy, getting all of them to split up like that," she mutters as she pockets the bag.

She takes a quick look around, taking in every detail of her surroundings, searching for something that would determine her next move.

Misato spots a fire escape on the side of one of the buildings in this alleyway. _There!_

With a running jump, and using a trash can as a boost, Misato grabs onto the bottom of the shaky metal structure. She quickly heaves herself up, climbs the staircase, and leaps onto the roof.

Misato grins, panting slightly, looking around.

"There you are!" Misato takes off, jumping across the building tops, heading directly towards the yellow bag in the distance.

She's slowly gaining on the bag. She does a sharp right turn and jumps off the roof, landing on a street light. Without missing a beat, she continues running forward, jumping from street light to street light.

As she approaches the intersection, she jumps off of the street light and onto the bus shelter, and then onto the top part of the bench. She turns right and bounds across the congested road, from car roof to car roof.

She lands on the sidewalk, goes around the corner, and continues running forward at full speed.

She looks to her left and sees the yellow bag on the other side of the road, matching her pace.

"Hmph."

She grips the handle.

"_Wind slash!_"

The air blast zooms across the street without hitting any cars or pedestrians and slams the yellow bag into the window of an Italian restaurant.

Misato skids to a stop, looking at the defeated bag with a grin, panting for breath.

She shrugs, and then walks across the street to scrape off the bag.

"And finally, the last guy."

In the distance, the green bag is tumbling and twirling into an area with lots of trees.

"The park, huh." Misato puts the yellow bag into her pocket, takes a step, and then sprints after the bag.

"What were you even thinking, coming here, huh?" Misato shouts, entering the park. "You're gonna end up tangled up in one of these branches!"

The bag hovers next to a lamp post.

"I'm going to give you one more chance," Misato says, casually jamming her kendo sword into the ground like a walking stick. "Turn yourself in. Save ourselves both a lot of trouble."

The bag floats in the air.

"I _will_ eventually capture you. You're just making it harder on yourself."

The bag floats.

"Suit yourself."

The bag floats.

Misato's eye glints. "_Wind slash!_"

The bag suddenly twirls out of the way. The air blast misses.

"Che. _Wind slash! Wind slash!_"

The bag somehow manages to dodge all of the air blasts.

Misato walks towards the bag. "You're annoying. _Wi—_"

She gasps. Her kendo sword clatters on the ground as she drops to her knees, clutching her wrist. "I've… I've overused it…" Sweat trickles down her face.

The bag just floats there.

Slowly, Misato bends down, picks up the sword, and puts it back in its holder. "This isn't over."

The bag just floats there.

Misato stands there for a moment, catching her breath.

The bag just floats there.

Misato's eyes snap wide open. "HYAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" she roars, sprinting forward.

She swipes at the bag, but the bag twirls out of the way.

She spins around, jumps, and swipes again. Another miss.

She lunges at the bag and hits the ground without the bag in her hands.

The wind begins blowing the bag across the park. Misato runs after the bag, leaping, jumping, spinning, rolling, skidding, swiping and kicking at the bag.

This goes on for a while.

Soon, the street lights start turning on. The sky is bright orange, filled with countless red tinted clouds. The sun is now a large red disk that you can look at without squinting, not far from the horizon.

The bag hovers near the middle of a bridge. Misato stands before the bag, panting for breath. Her mouth is dry, her throat burns, and her chest aches.

"What's your goal, anyway?" Misato asks, wiping sweat off of her forehead. "What's so important that you simply have to escape? Important enough that you risk your life like this? Do you actually have a goal? Or do you have absolutely no idea what you're doing with your life?"

The bag just floats there.

Misato chuckles. "It can't be the doldrums, can it?"

The bag just floats there.

"Oh my god, it is!" Misato laughs. She wipes some tears away. "Wow, what a typical, typical goal. I totally haven't heard that before!"

The bag just floats there.

"A gigantic bunch of plastic garbage in the North Pacific Gyre. Over 10,000,000 tons of it, all just floating there." Misato grins. "Sounds nice, doesn't it?"

The bag just floats there.

"It's too bad you'll never live to see it." Misato pulls some toothpicks out of her pocket. "This is one ambition of yours that will just have to remain a dream."

The bag just floats there.

Misato tenses, preparing herself for battle. _That being said… I need to end it soon, or things are going get tricky._ She holds three toothpicks in each hand, like senbon. _My energy's practically spent._

The bag just floats there.

_I'll put all of my energy into the next three minutes._ _At the end of those three minutes, you'll be down for sure._

A sudden gust of wind blows the bag off of the bridge.

"NOW!" Misato throws all six toothpicks simultaneously.

All of them miss, and embed themselves in the tree trunks behind the bag with audible _thunk_s.

Misato sprints forward and leaps onto the bridge railing.

_Che. Throwing too many at once decreases the accuracy, eh. _She leaps off of the railing and onto a nearby branch. Her arms blur and three more toothpicks whiz past the bag.

Two toothpicks impale the bag and into the bark behind it.

She jumps off the branch and onto another branch, another tree, then another tree, quickly closing in on the bag.

A gust of wind in a convenient direction blows the bag free of the two toothpicks.

More toothpicks whiz through the air as the wind takes the bag away from the bridge and towards a park trail 50 meters below.

Misato jumps to lower and lower branches and trees, gradually descending.

The bag hovers above the park trail, near ground level.

Misato flips herself around to the underside of the branch and pushes off with her feet, closing the remaining 10 meters to the ground in less than a second. She slams the bag into the ground and involuntarily tumbles forward, rolling due to her slight forward momentum.

A gust of wind picks the bag off of the ground again.

Misato gets up immediately, twirling around and lunging at the bag. The wind blows it just out of her grasp.

She hits the ground, rolls once, gets up, pivots, and shoots four toothpicks in quick succession. They all embed themselves into a tree trunk, with two of them anchoring the bag.

The wind blows the bag away from the tree again.

Misato sprints forward, and using the toothpicks in the tree as temporary footholds, she shoots up the tree. She turns around and leaps forward, swiping at the bag.

Her fingers actually touch the bag, barely, but it's still too far for her to grab hold of it. She completes a flip, lands, and starts shooting toothpicks like a rapid-fire machine gun.

The bag flies around, randomly changing directions. All of the toothpicks embed themselves into tree trunks and branches without hitting the bag.

_Che. _Misato sprints after the bag, clenching her last two toothpicks in her left hand.

She pushes herself harder, and runs ahead of the bag. Using a trash can as a boost, she leaps up and slams her fist into the bag.

The bag shoots towards the ground, suddenly stopping 20 centimeters above the ground because of air resistance.

Misato hits the ground, twirls around, and aims a downward kick at the bag. It flies out of the way at the last moment, and dirt explodes underneath her shoe.

She spins around and elbows the bag at a downward angle. Because of air resistance, the bag billows around her elbow. Misato loses her balance and flips around, falling over.

Her right arm immediately shoots out to grab the bag, but the wind blows it off of her elbow, and her fingers get no closer than millimeters.

She pushes herself up and sprints after the bag. _Damn, this is bad. He's getting closer and closer to the river._

Misato clutches the remaining two toothpicks with her right hand. _I need to grab him before then, or else it's all over._

The water in that river is flowing extremely quickly; possibly due to the heavy rainfall earlier that day. If the bag touches the water, it'll be instantly dragged in, and then it'll be kilometers downstream seconds later. Or something like that.

That tree over there is the last tree that the bag will pass before reaching the river.

Misato skids to a stop, and channels all of her momentum into hurling the two toothpicks as hard as she can.

The toothpicks zoom through the air, impale the bag…

_Yeah!_ Misato clenches a fist.

…and then harmlessly bounce off of the tree bark.

"EHHHHHHH!?"

The bag floats over to the river, leaving the toothpicks in the dirt behind it.

"What the hell!? What the hell kind of tree is this?" Misato demands, rushing forward.

The bag twirls, and then suddenly begins falling towards the water.

Misato's eyes widen. This is bad. Very bad. The bag is now less than a meter above the water, and dropping fast. She's still ten meters away from the water, so she'll never make it in time if she runs. She's out of toothpicks to throw, and even if she still had some, there isn't anything to aim at to anchor the bag.

Her mind races furiously, trying to think of something, anything, as the final 0.85 seconds tick away.

Because of the adrenaline running through her blood vessels, everything around her seems to start slowing down. The green plastic bag is now only 40 centimeters above the rushing water. Now it's 20 centimeters. Then 10 centimeters. Then 5 centimeters.

Then the bag is slamming into a large rock on the other side of the river courtesy of a shoe flying at Mach 0.2.

Misato runs up the river and starts jumping across the river, using various protruding rocks as stepping stones.

The shoe had bounced off of the rock, landing close to the shoreline.

Though visibly damaged, the bag can still fly. The wind picks the bag off of the cracked rock and blows up into the air. The bag starts drifting towards the river again.

Still on the protruding rocks, Misato jumps forward and punches the bag as hard as she can. The bag flies back towards land, but that won't keep it down for long.

Misato flails her arms and struggles to keep her balance.

The bag drifts up and flies over the river again.

"You don't know when to give up!" Misato leaps the final few stones to the shore, takes off her other shoe, and throws another Mach 0.2 shoe projectile at the bag.

The bag slams into the very hard tree on the opposite side of the river. The shoe bounces off, bounces off of a protruding rock, bounces off of another protruding rock, and then lands on yet another protruding rock in the middle of the river.

Misato rushes along the shoreline to pick up her first shoe.

That stubborn bag is trying to float over to the river again!

_Blam!_

Misato's third Mach 0.2 shoe throw sends the bag flying back about 150 meters before skidding another 50 meters along the dirt ground.

In her socks, Misato jumps across the river, picks up her shoe, puts it on, and then jumps the rest of the way before running after the bag as quickly as she can.

She looks ahead. Because of all of the skidding and bouncing, the shoe landed on the ground separate from the bag. The bag is floating around again.

"You idiot!" Misato shouts. Her legs are shaking. Sweat is dripping from her face. She's just about reached the end of her rope.

The bag just floats there.

"Quit acting like Sasahara and just come down already!" Something metallic gives off a glint in the setting sun. Misato's index finger tightens.

_BANG._

A bullet shoots through the air, whizzes past the bag without hitting it, and then buries itself into the foliage of a tree in the distance.

"H…Huh?" Misato stutters. "I missed?" She looks down at her hands. They're shaking. "I… I must be more tired than I thought."

Then, a large branch falls out of the tree and right in the middle of the park trail. Upon seeing this branch, a bike rider yells and swerves hard to avoid the branch. A flock of birds at the side of the trail are startled by the sudden swerving and quickly fly away. Suddenly spotting this flock of birds, a dog barks and chases after them. In doing this, the frisbee that dog had been about to catch flies through the air unimpeded until it bounces off of a tree trunk and slams into the vending machine. Surprised by this, a woman near the vending machine almost drops her drink while backing away from the frisbee, unintentionally bumping into the little girl behind her. This bump loosens the little girl's grip on the bright red helium balloon in her hand, and it flies away into the sky.

A bright red model airplane abruptly banks left to avoid colliding with the balloon. This evasive maneuver takes the plane into a head-on collision trajectory with a tree. Thanks to quick thinking on the part of the boy with the remote control, the plane swerves again, skimming the foliage. This causes some branches and leaves to fall, along with a bright red soccer ball that had been stuck in the tree. The ball plummets, bounces, and then knocks over a long metal pipe that had been sitting against the tree trunk. The pipe falls onto the tip of a Daiku Burger soda bottle, sending the bottle flying and spinning through the air. The bottle bounces and lands in an grassy area that's not particularly close to any trees. Then, something _whooshes_, and a gigantic wire mesh net emerges from the underside of the bridge 50 meters above.

"Wha!?" Misato leans forward.

The enormous net falls and slams into the ground, trapping the soda bottle, and missing the plastic bag by mere millimeters.

"Eh?"

The bag is still floating in the air.

Misato blinks.

The bag is still floating in the air.

Misato drops to her knees, puts her hands to her face and exhales very slowly.

The bag is still floating in the air.

Then, a conic crow flies directly into the plastic bag, gets tangled up, and plummets to the ground.

Misato looks up. "Ah!?"

She gets up, takes a few wobbly steps, and stumbles towards the bag. Inside, the crow is wrestling and thrashing about, trying to free itself.

Gently, Misato grips the bag with both hands and rotates it. The crow bursts out of the opening, flounders a bit, and then flies on its way.

Misato blinks. She turns her head down and stares at the tattered bag in her hands. A grin slowly spreads across her face.

"Heh."

She stands up. "HAH!"

* * *

At the side of the busy road, Misato pushes open the garbage lid and drops in four colourful plastic bags. She dusts off her hands.

"All right. Since that's over with, I guess I'll be heading home." Misato looks at the sky. The sun has already set. The sky is now completely dark, except for a tiny band of light above the west horizon, and a few stars.

She steps onto the road and starts walking across. "That took longer than I thought," she sighs. She looks down at her hands. They're still shaking from her earlier physical exertion. "I guess I can't do something like this every day…"

A sudden screeching sound breaks Misato out of her reverie. She looks to her right and her face freezes in horror as two bright headlights rapidly close in on her.

** Public Service Announcement **

Remember to look both ways before crossing the street.

_CRASH._

Misato flies backwards, rolling across the pavement. She screams, clutching her right arm.

Cars stop and people get out of their cars. "Are you okay!?" someone's voice yells, panicked.

Misato's face is contorted in pain. She clenches her teeth and tries to choke down her screams, but fails miserably.

"Shit."

"Someone call an ambulance!"

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	2. Aftermath - Sasahara

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"What exactly happened, Tachibana Misato?" Sasahara stares questioningly at Misato's arm cast.

"Oh… uh…" Misato looks away, blushing. "I… uh…"

Sasahara blinks.

"I fell down some stairs," Misato lies.

"You should be more careful," says Sasahara. "Stairs have had a history of causing injuries." He points at the bandages wrapped around his forehead.

Oh right… Sasahara had fallen down some stairs the other day. In fact, that had been one of the topics of their discussion on the roof yesterday. She had been berating Sasahara for his carelessness, or something like that.

"Uh… well… yeah…"

"In any case, I notice that your cast is a blank canvas," Sasahara says.

"Huh?... What are you talking about?"

Sasahara smiles, stirring the tea that he had been holding all this time. "I understand that it is a social convention among commoners to sign the cast of an injured comrade."

Misato's face turns bright red and 542.85 cubic centimeters of steam shoot out of her ears. A pistol appears in Misato's uninjured left hand. "Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about, Sasahara, you idiot!? Cast-signing? That's—"

Misato's face turns even redder, and her internal pressure value suddenly skyrockets from 856 kilopascals to 1,385 kilopascals, automatically switching on the pressure relief valve and causing even more steam to be vented out through her ears. "W-w-w-w-wait, what do you mean COMRADES!?"

"Ah, your face has suddenly turned a bright shade of red," Sasahara says, looking up at the sky. "Perhaps we should descend from the rooftop. The sun might be giving you a sunburn."

"No, no, forget that," Misato says, shaking her head in an attempt to get her thoughts together. She walks to the corner of the roof and picks up the bucket of rainwater. She leans back and dumps the entire thing on her face, making sure that no drops get on her cast.

Sasahara stands there, speechless.

Since water has a pretty high thermal conductivity and also a pretty high specific heat capacity, Misato has cooled down somewhat.

Misato coughs and rubs her eyes. "Uh… if you want to sign my cast, than I guess that's okay…"

She wipes her hand dry on her shirt, reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a pen. "Oh look… ha ha, I guess I was carrying around a pen. How convenient. I guess. Ha. Ha ha." She walks over to Sasahara.

"Here, use it," she says, looking away, hesitantly holding out the pen.

Sasahara smiles. "No, it's fine." He reaches into his pocket and with great flourish, pulls out an elegant fountain pen with a huge black feather on top. "I'll use my own pen."

_Does he always carry that around?_ Misato's eye twitches.

"To write one's name is to leave a part of oneself behind," Sasahara says dramatically. "It is not something one should do lightly."

_Is that some sort of manga reference again?_ Misato's eye twitches.

Sasahara leans forward and signs his name in a very dramatic manner.

_He… he did it…_ Misato stares in awe at the overly-dramatic signature on her cast. _He signed his name…_

Misato continues staring at the signature as Sasahara tucks his pen away very dramatically. "With this… I'll see you in class after lunch, Tachibana Misato."

Misato looks up, her face slightly red. "Ah, Sasahara!"

Sasahara pauses, his hand on the roof door.

Misato smiles. "Thank you!"

Sasahara smiles. "My pleasure."

Without taking his eyes off of Misato, Sasahara opens the door, steps inside, and abruptly falls forward.

And then Misato hears the sound of several bodies tumbling down the stairs.

Sweat appears on Misato's face. "Eh?"

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	3. Aftermath - Weboshi and Fecchan

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

Of course, when Weboshi and Fecchan learned that Misato was going to meet Sasahara on the roof (again), they weren't going to miss out on the new potential teasing material. They've been eavesdropping on the conversation this entire time. They've been so drawn into the conversation that they don't even realize that Sasahara's about to leave the rooftop. And since Sasahara is also so drawn into the conversation, he doesn't notice the green and orange headed girls hiding behind the door when he opens it.

It's a good idea to pay attention to potential obstacles when you're walking.

Especially if you're on a roof.

Also especially if you're crouching at the top of a pretty high staircase.

These are the thoughts that are running through their minds as Sasahara trips over Weboshi and Fecchan and inadvertently pushes all three of them into a tumbling fall down the staircase.

They lie in a collapsed heap at the bottom of the stairs, moaning in pain.

"Sasahara, what's all that noise!?" Misato's silhouette appears in the doorway. "Huh? Weboshi? Fecchan? What are you doing here?"

"Ahh, she caught us," says Weboshi, scratching her head sheepishly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Uh, well, you see…" And then Weboshi abruptly realizes that she's bleeding.

* * *

Weboshi and Fecchan sheepishly follow Misato out of the nurse's office. They were lucky. None of them got any breaks or fractures or anything like that. Just some cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Though now, Weboshi, Fecchan and Sasahara have significantly more bandages visible on their hands, legs, and faces.

"Well, I'll leave you with your friends." Sasahara says, turning around. "Don't be late for class, Tachibana Misato." That butler guy follows Sasahara.

"What're you talking about!?" There's typical Misato and her typical tsundere mannerisms. "You're the one who needs to worry about being on time! You're the…!" Misato's voice trails off into unintelligible mutterings as Sasahara walks out of sight.

"Ahh, she never changes," Weboshi grins.

"That's her," Fecchan smiles.

Puffs of steam are coming out of Misato's ears. She's still glaring at the corner that Sasahara had gone around.

"Ne, ne." Fecchan tugs on Misato's shoulder. "Can we sign your cast?"

"Huh?" Misato turns around.

"Yeah!" Weboshi pulls out a green marker, grinning. "I'm a bit hurt, actually. See—"

"Well, of course you're hurt." Misato points at one of Weboshi's bandages. "You just fell down some stairs."

Weboshi crosses her arms. "No, no!... At least wait for me to finish my teasing!"

"Huh?" Misato waits for Weboshi to continue.

Weboshi clears her throat. "I'm a bit hurt, actually," she starts, acting as if she hadn't been interrupted at all. "Even though we're your best friends, you still let that guy be the very first to sign your cast..."

Aaaand, there we go. Red-faced Misato. Teasing achievement get!

Fecchan winks at Weboshi. "But since we're your best friend, we'll be willing to let it slide, right?" says Fecchan, ignoring Misato's stuttering protests. "C'mon! Let us be your second and third signatures!"

"W-well, I don't see why not." Misato laughs nervously. A few bursts of steam shoot out of her ears.

"Wait." Weboshi gives Fecchan a serious look. "How are we going to decide who gets to be second or third?"

Fecchan smiles. "Hm… It's not like it really matters, but I guess I would go first, since F comes before W in the alphabet."

"But my hair is green," Weboshi counters. "Green is the color of life. So I should go first."

"Uh… does it really matter?" Misato asks.

"My hair is orange, though." Fecchan pulls on a strand of hair. "And the sun is like orange. And the sun is like totally vital to all life."

"No, the sun isn't orange at all." Weboshi crosses her arms. "It's actually white."

"Huh… really?"

"Really."

"But what about at sunset…"

"Nope. Completely white."

"Then… I should be first because I'm shorter than you. And since I'm shorter, I'll able to crawl around in air ducts and cramped spaces better than you."

Misato steps forward. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Hm… sure. However," Weboshi grins, lifting up a finger. "Since I'm taller, you can use me as a meeting spot if we get lost in a crowd."

"True, true. Hm." Fecchan covers her mouth in thought. "But. I always eat a popsicle on the way home. And when eating a popsicle, you only need to hold onto the popsicle stick. So, I don't need to wash my hands when I eat it. So there!"

"Ahh, but it's going to be winter soon." Weboshi crosses her arms. "So, meat buns are the obvious better choice, since they're a hot food. Warm you right up."

Misato scratches her head. "This is way off topic."

"Aha!" Fecchan grins. "Since it's going to be winter soon, then warm is better than cool. So, my orange hair beats your green hair because orange is a warm color, unlike green, which is a cool color!"

"Ah, but then again, green represents plant life." Weboshi points to her hair. "After millions of years, that plant life gets compressed into coal and oil. That coal and oil is then mined and then used in power plants to generate electricity. And then that electricity is used to power my kotatsu!"

"Arg! But… um…"

This goes on for twenty minutes.

* * *

Misato smiles as she walks to class with her two best friends, reading over the two newest signatures on her cast. Weboshi had signed her name with a green marker, and Fecchan had signed her name with a red pen. It looks like her cast is going to get pretty colorful soon.

Misato doesn't actually remember who won that whatever that was and got to sign first, even though they just finished signing her cast about 8.5 seconds ago.

It's not like it really matters.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	4. Aftermath - Mio

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"Ah, the rumors were true! There really is an upperclassman with an arm cast!"

Misato stares at the blue-haired girl standing in front of her. "Uh… yeah?..."

"Wow! That's so cool! I've never actually signed an arm cast before. Please, can I sign it?"

Misato looks down at her cast. It has a lot more signatures now, but there's still plenty of blank space left. It started with some of her classmates asking to sign her cast, and then some friends of those classmates from other classes started asking, and then it somehow ended up with completely random people from an entirely different grade level asking to sign her cast. How the heck did all that happen in only three hours? Word sure spreads quickly.

"Uh… Why do you want to sign my cast so badly?"

"Well, signing a classmate's cast is sort of like a staple of schoolhood, y'know?" The blue-haired girl takes a deep breath. "But I've never had anyone in my class break anything before. None of my relatives, either. I've never seen any casts at all throughout my life."

"Huh…"

"That's probably a good thing, but still, I've always wondered what signing someone's cast would be like! So please? Please?"

Misato scratches her cheek. "Well yeah, I don't really see a problem with it… But…" She points at the blue-haired girl's hand. "How're you going to write anything if all of your fingers are broken?" Sure enough, every finger on the girl's right hand is in one of those metal splint things.

"Ah…" The blue-haired girl lifts up her right hand. "It's been like that for a while. But as a consequence, I've gotten plenty of practice writing with my left hand!" She lifts up her left hand, which is completely bandaged.

_Wh…What's with her hands?_

"It's almost healed now, so it only hurts a little bit when I try to write with it!"

"Ah… Okay…?"

* * *

The blue-haired girl walks away, calling her thanks. She's practically hopping in excitement. As the girl gets farther away, Misato hears the girl talking to herself about 'manga' and 'research' or something.

Misato stares at the signature. The girl was right. This handwriting is surprisingly neat, despite the fact that she wrote it with a bandaged, non-dominant hand.

"Mio?..." Misato reads. "She looks familiar for some reason..."

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	5. Aftermath - Yukko

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"Ah, you're the upperclassman with the cast, right?"

Misato stares at the strange brown-haired girl standing in front of her.

"Uh… well… sure…?"

"Cool! Can I sign it?" The girl readies a pen.

"I… don't really… mind… but…" Misato points at the white cloth wrapped around the girl's head. "How are you going to sign it if you're blindfolded like that?"

"Just tell me where there's a space and then I'll just sign it! Don't worry. I've gotten plenty of practice writing blind this past week and a half!"

"Ah... ... ... Ehh…?"

* * *

Misato stares incredulously at the signature, and then at the departing girl. Did this girl get some sort of eye injury or something? Why is she blindfolded!?

Misato watches as the girl walks confidently down the hallway towards the stairwell. Misato continues watching as the girl bumps into the wall, loses her balance, and tumbles down the set of stairs.

_Um…?_

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	6. Aftermath - Mai

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"Is it okay if I sign it?"

Misato stares at the expressionless girl standing in front of her. How do all of these first-year students already know about her arm cast? For crying out loud, it's only the first day, and now her cast is almost completely filled!

"Um… I don't see why not. Er… try to write small though, okay?"

The girl nods as she steps forward. She pops open a black marker pen and begins writing.

Misato sighs.

"Ah, want to hang out after school?" Weboshi calls out while walking up to Misato, with Fecchan just a step behind.

"Sorry," Misato smiles apologetically. "I've got practice after school."

"Oh yeah, that tournament's coming up, isn't it?"

"Mn."

Fecchan grins. "Who's this?" she asks, pointing at the girl who's writing on her cast.

"I don't… know…" Misato gives the expressionless girl a wary glance. "Hey, do you guys know anything about this?"

"About what?" asks Weboshi.

"All afternoon, these random people have been coming up to me and asking to sign my cast."

Weboshi and Fecchan look at each other and then their grins grow wider.

Misato's eyes narrow. _That's suspicious._

Weboshi giggles into her hand. "We wouldn't know anything about it."

Fecchan giggles into her hand. "Word sure spreads quickly through this school, doesn't it?"

Misato's eyes narrow even more. _They definitely did something._

"Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow then, Misato!" Weboshi waves as she walks off with Fecchan.

"Later then!" Fecchan waves happily.

"Hn…" Misato shoots a suspicious glare their way. She then looks down.

_This girl is still signing her name? How long of a name does she have?_

"I'm done," the girl announces, stepping back.

Misato looks at what the girl wrote. Her eye twitches.

The signature that the girl just left doesn't look anything like a name. Misato's not even sure what it's supposed to be.

There are three long horizontal lines above each other. Five vertical lines divide the horizontal lines into four equal parts. Also, there are five dots; one on each of the five vertical lines. Going from left to right, the dot is on the middle horizontal line, then the top horizontal line, then the middle horizontal line, then the bottom horizontal line, and then the middle horizontal line. All five of these dots are joined together with a curvy line. There are also arrowheads on either end of the curvy line.

In addition, there are numbers on the leftmost side of each of the horizontal lines. From top to bottom, the numbers go _1_, then _0_, then _-1_. There are numbers near the bottom of each of the vertical lines as well. From left to right, the numbers go _0_, then _π/2_, then _π_, then _3π/2_, then _2π_.

"Wha… what did you…? I thought you were going to sign it!"

The girl places her marker pen in her breast pocket. She blinks. Her face is deadpan.

"I _did_ sine it," she says.

Misato almost falls over because of the incredibly lame pun.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	7. Aftermath - Mihoshi

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

Mihoshi looks over her older sister's body with a critical eye. She notices Misato's stiff movements, and how Misato's right arm is definitely broken and totally in an arm cast.

"Sister…" Mihoshi starts. "Your arm is broken, right?"

"Mn," Misato nods. "Ah, a lot of people signed my cast today."

"Yeah, that's all nice and stuff..." Mihoshi stops walking and holds her arm in front of Misato, "…but why are you walking with me to the dojo?" Mihoshi points to the kendo sword that is conspicuously present on Misato's back. "And why are you bringing your shinai!?"

"Huh? I know I haven't been coming that often, but the tournament's coming up. It's better to practice at the dojo, with an instructor, rather than at the school."

Mihoshi waves her hand. "No, no, you didn't answer the question."

"Huh?"

"Sister, your arm is broken. Why are you coming?"

"Aw, come on, it's the tournament! I can make do with only my left hand."

Mihoshi stares at Misato for a good 10 seconds. "Um. Okay… You're going to practice kendo… with only your left arm… while your right arm is in a cast. Okay then."

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Misato starts walking again.

"Are you seriously going to do that?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks!"

"That was sarcasm."

"Oh."

Mihoshi looks over the signatures on Misato's cast. They're all sorts of different sizes. Hm. The signature sizes probably shrunk over time to accommodate the decrease in the amount of free space available. So, by looking at the sizes of the signatures, Mihoshi can more or less figure out the order in which the signatures were added.

And of course, that Sasahara's name is huge and fancy and smack in the middle of the cast.

"So," Mihoshi grins, "how did it feel when you got Sasahara to sign your cast first?"

Misato's face turns bright red, and because it's difficult to hold a giant bazooka with only her left hand, it clatters onto the ground. "What!? How do you know about that!?"

_I guessed correctly! _Mihoshi chuckles evilly. "You sure did give him a lot of space for his name."

"What?... I… He… Uh…" Misato desperately tries to pick up the bazooka, but it's too heavy for only her left arm.

Mihoshi stares amusedly at her flustered older sister. Misato's too easy.

"Um… Ah… See…"

Mihoshi waves her hand dismissively. "Anyway, if he got a space, I want a space too. Where can I sign?"

"Oh, you just wanted to sign?" Misato takes a deep breath and calms herself. "Anywhere's fine. You want a pen?"

"Thanks." Mihoshi takes the pen and begins writing.

_TMxSK OTP — Mihoshi_

"Um… Mihoshi?" Misato reads over the writing. "What does 'OTP' mean?"

Mihoshi's grin widens to the extreme. _She doesn't know what it means! _Giggles escape her mouth. "Ah… hee hee… Don't worry about it. It's just something that I add to my signature. Y'know, for the personal touch."

Misato still looks wary. "But what does it mean?"

"It's a common English saying. 'Open… temporal… pentagon'. Yeah."

"Ah, I see." Misato nods, convinced.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	8. Aftermath - Assistant Instructor

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"Hey, lay off man! I can still do kendo with only my left hand!"

The assistant instructor gives Misato an exasperated look. "Listen—"

"I'm fine! Don't worry about it!"

The assistant instructor pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. With the tournament coming up and everything, he's been rather stressed lately. He closes his eyes and imagines his bike. The assistant instructor smiles, already feeling better. Yes, that awesome bike. Just the thought of it is enough to soothe his nerves. If he ever lost that bike, he would be devastated.

"Well, I can't stop you," says the assistant instructor. "Just be careful. You don't want to cause any more damage to your arm."

"Mm!" Misato nods eagerly. "Hey, you've always helped me when I was young. Do you want to sign my cast?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Everyone's doing it. Might as well."

"Hm…"

* * *

Misato stares at the assistant instructor's signature. He didn't actually sign his name at all.

_Hard work will always open doors._

"How did I just know that he was going to write that?"

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	9. Aftermath - Yoshino

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"What is that, a petition to fix your arm?"

Misato gives Yoshino a strange look. "Huh? What are you talking about, Naganohara-san? It's an arm cast."

Yoshino grins. "There sure are a lot of names."

Misato sighs. "Don't ask. I have no idea how so many people got on there in only one day."

Yoshino's eye gleams.

"Anyway, it was nice seeing you at the dojo today, Naganohara-san. You so rarely come."

"Eh heh…" Yoshino moves closer to Misato and starts reading over the signatures on the cast.

"Don't tell me… You want to sign my cast too?"

"Mmm… Just give it a few minutes."

"Huh? Okay?"

Yoshino spots Mihoshi's signature. "Oh, that Mihoshi. What a peculiar way of signing!"

"I know, right? She's actually pretty good at English. She knows about English sayings that I haven't heard before, even though she's four grades younger than me. Plus, her pronunciation is above average…"

"Ah, an English saying, was it?" Yoshino stares at the signature. "Well, about this… I think that there are possibilities besides this one here, and on equal footing, too. And don't forget the crack ones, which _could_ conceivably occur. Can't think of any offhand, though. Mm. However, _that_ one is the primary one for me. Of course, I'm somewhat biased, but still."

"Uh…" Misato's face is blank. She isn't actually all that good with English, so Yoshino's in-depth commentary about the implications of 'open temporal pentagon' pretty much flies right over her head.

"Anyway," Yoshino says, holding up a fineliner pen, "the time has come! Time to sign!"

"Uh, okay." Misato stops and holds out the cast.

"Hm… Now, how should I sign?" Her gaze flickers over to the sine function signature that had been written by that weird first-year. "Oh, there's an idea. Hey, you're a second-year now, right?"

"Yeah…"

* * *

_Simplify and state restrictions (_^o^_)_

_**1.** 8(x + 1) / (x² + 1)_

_**2.**__ (2x + 1) / 5(2x² + 3x + 1)_

_**3. **__(x² + 13x + 40) / (x³ - x² - 6x)  
__× (2x³ - 14x² + 24x) / (2x² + 8x - 64)  
__× (x³ - 4x) / (x__³ + 3x² - 10x)_

_**4.**__ (x³ - 64) / (x² - 1)  
__× (8x² + 4x - 12) / (2x² - 9x + 4)  
__× (x + 1) / (2x² + 7x + 6)  
__÷ ( (x² + 4x + 16) / (8.5x² + 12.75x - 8.5) )_

_**5.**__ (x³ + 3x² + 3x + 1) / (10x² + 11x - 8)  
__× (12x³ + 14x² - 40x) / (x³ + 6x² + 11x + 6)  
__× (5x² + 2x - 16) / (x³ + 5x² + 7x + 3)  
__× (2x³ + 13x² + 24x + 9) / (3x² - 4x)  
__÷ ( (2x² - 3x - 20) / (2.5x - 10) )_

"No."

"Aw, come on. Crossing out's fun!"

"NO."

Yoshino giggles.

"Why did you write that?" Misato sighs. "Now my math teacher's going to accuse me of cheating when we have a test…"

Yoshino smiles innocently.

"Ugh."

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	10. After Aftermath - Principal

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

_Several weeks later._

The principal slowly walks up to the podium in front of a yard full of high school students. He looks somewhat comical because of his neck brace and his head bandages, but his expression is dead serious.

Misato looks around nervously. The air is really tense for some reason.

The principal taps the microphone and clears his throat. "It has come to my attention that there has been an unprecedented amount of injuries lately."

There are some murmurings.

Misato looks to her right and spots the weird first-year who had drawn that sine function. That girl now has a band-aid on her left cheek. Misato also notices a blonde girl with a huge red ribbon standing not too far from the weird girl. Probably in the same class. The blonde has a medical eye patch over her right eye. Also, the guy standing next to the blonde has bandages wrapped all around the top of his head.

Misato lets her eyes wander and notices that many other people are injured as well. To her right, a male blue-haired second-year is wearing a leg cast, and leaning on crutches. There's a male brown-haired second-year with a wrist splint. There's a female blonde first-year with a square white bandage on her forehead.

The principal clears his throat. "In response to this, we will be taking greater measures to ensure the wellbeing of everyone in this school. We will be having an assembly on safety and accident prevention later this week. We have also arranged for a few local policemen and firemen to volunteer their time and come to each class one by one for further safety discussion."

Misato looks at the front and notices that even some teachers have gotten injured. Takasaki-sensei's hand is bandaged, and there's a bruise on his cheek. The science teacher, Nakamura-sensei, seems really badly injured. Her left arm is in a sling, both of her legs are completely wrapped up in bandages, her right foot is in a walking brace, and there are bandages wrapping around her forehead and left eye.

Misato sweats. _Uh…Did I miss something major? When did so many people get injured!?_

"In the meantime, please take extra caution and care, at home and at school. We would very much like to prevent any further injuries from occurring. Do not do anything foolish or reckless. I had thought that there had been plenty of common sense ingrained in the minds of this generation, but these past several of weeks have proven me very wrong. I have seen incidents of students blatantly disregarding a teacher's safety warnings, falling down staircases, jaywalking across a roadway with fast moving cars—"

Misato flushes.

"—not to mention jumping through a window in broad daylight, and _right in front of my eyes_, no less. What's wrong with you people!?"

Misato smiles nervously. _Wow, he's starting to get ranty._

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? To be honest, it's a miracle that you weren't immediately sliced to ribbons by the sharp debris."

Misato notices that the blue-haired first-year girl is looking really sheepish now.

"And this warning doesn't just apply to students, but to teachers and faculty members as well." The principal looks back and forth among the teachers. "Though sports accidents do occur, safety should be the first thing in the staff member's mind. These things can be prevented if you're not careless and reckless. Please be responsible."

The principal shoots a cold glare at the teachers. "In addition, I have been receiving repeated inquiries about a faculty member inflicting physical harm upon students."

Misato stares. Was there really something like that happening in their school?

"Of course, I'd like to think that this sort of thing would never occur intentionally. Nevertheless, this needs to stop. NOW. I hope I'm clear on that."

Misato shudders involuntarily.

The principal continues. "In addition, during the safety investigation, we discovered that when the fire alarm last went off seven months ago, the evacuation of the school was performed in a less than satisfactory manner. Thus, at some point during the following week, we will be undergoing a fire drill as well."

Misato blinks. Whoa. They hadn't done anything like that last year.

"Your teachers will go over the proper procedures in more detail during class, but I'll go over the basics now. When the bell rings, you are to immediately proceed towards the appropriate exits in a CALM and ORDERLY fashion. You are to head out to the FAR END of the field, away from the school, and line up with your classes there so that attendance can be taken. Just to be clear, misuse of the fire alarm is a criminal offence and may result in heavy fines..."

* * *

The students are slowly filing into the school to begin the day.

Weboshi rubs the back of her head. "Wow, who knew our principal could be such a scary dude?"

"It just means that he's taking his job very seriously," says Fecchan.

"And here I thought he was just some timid old man."

Fecchan shrugs, smiling.

Misato walks alongside Weboshi and Fecchan, deep in thought.

It's 8:25 am.

* * *

**日常 ****- nichijou, Arawi Keiichi**


End file.
